Northern New Jersey Fishing Report - October 13, 2016

 

 

The most encouraging development over the last week is the improvement in the striped bass fishing. While it’s a far cry from gangbusters, more and bigger fish are being caught from the boats and the beach.

Capt. Phil Sciortino at the Tackle Box in Hazlet said live eels have been the ticket to bass in excess of 25 pounds in Raritan Bay.

He also said some bass have been taken on plugs with 9-year-old Jack Killian of Middlesex catching a 28 pounder on a Tsunami popper in Raritan Bay fishing with Capt. Rod Radlof.

Bait and plugs have been working from the sand as well. Sciortino said anglers fishing in the Monmouth Beach Striped Bass Classic, which his shop helps sponsor, caught keeper fish on clams.

Held in the wind and rain on Saturday, John Gates emerged the winner with a 10 pounder. Sciortino said there a number of other fish in the 7- to -8-pound range.

Anglers fishing Sandy Hook are also picking up bass on plugs and bucktails and the false albacore continue to hit there as well.

Frank McGuire of Woodbridge was fishing the Rip at the Hook on Columbus Day and reported albies were blowing up on bait most of the morning.  He said the fish could be seen chasing bait through the trough close to the beach.

One angler landed three and McGuire said he finally got one after many casts with a silver Hogy Epoxy lure.  The water remains warm so, until that changes, the albies should hang around.

The porgy fishing, Sciortino said, seems to have slowed down some but the blackfish bite is coming on strong. Jim Stonaker of West Long Branch told me he used green crabs on Tuesday and had 25 tog in less than two hours, throwing them all back. It’s still a one-fish limit until Nov. 16.

Capt. Ron Santee on the Fishermen out of Atlantic Highlands reported finding plenty of porgies on Tuesday and Wednesday.

He also said Capt. Dan Seich has been having good luck with the stripers on his night trips aboard the Fishermen with fish up to 20 pounds on live eels.

Capt. Rob Semkewyc on the Sea Hunter out of Atlantic Highlands will be starting his fall striper trips this Saturday, Oct. 15.

Joe Julian Jr. of Julian’s Bait and Tackle in Atlantic Highlands is also getting more reports of bass in the bay and from the beach.

Mel Martens at Giglio’s Bait and Tackle in Sea Bright finally had an opportunity to use his scale when Andrew DeFranco of Sea Bright brought in two bass he caught in the surf on plugs. One was 18 pounds and the other 13. Martens also had reports of charter boats trolling up bass in the 30-pound range.

Smaller stripers are in the Shrewsbury River along with some bluefish, he said, and folks continue to catch crabs.

Ed over at the Oceanic Marina in Rumson said the Navesink River is still producing crabs when the weather allows the boats to get out. There are also small stripers being caught at the juncture of the Navesink and Shrewsbury rivers and at the Highlands Bridge.

Bob Matthews at Fisherman’s Den in Belmar said the fishing was much better on all fronts this past week with monster bluefish, plenty of tog, winter flounder and kingfish.

The biggest news, he said, is the increase in the number of stripers he’s seeing. One angler, Vinny D’Anton of the Spring Lake Liveliners, landed five bass on poppers from the beach with the biggest running 13 pounds, 12 ounces. Matthews reported a number of anglers are catching stripers on poppers with the Storm Chug Bug a popular choice.

There’s bass in the Bradley Beach/Ocean Grove surf as well. Two bass hit my Stillwater Smack-It popper on Wednesday night, with only one making it to the beach. It was about 30 inches and blew up on the plug just a second or two after landing in the whitewater. Nothing compares to a top-water strike on a beautiful fall evening.

Over the weekend, Matthews heard from Capt. George Steller on the charter boat Terri Jean. He reported trolling stripers up to 31 pounds with smaller fish in the 15-pound range.

Blood and sand worms are catching winter flounder and kingfish in the Shark River and Matthews said the kings are on the large size. There are some big blackfish at the inlet, too, with a tog of nearly 6 pounds brought into the shop on Monday.

Before heading offshore in search of tuna, Capt. Rich Falcone of the Golden Eagle out of Belmar got into some monster blues on Tuesday with fish up to 20 pounds. He said they were catching them on both bait and jigs with the jumbos preferring the bait.

He said the fishing was steady all day with up to 10 fish on at a time. He’ll be back at the bluefish on Friday and over the weekend.

The porgies and blackfish are keeping anglers aboard the Big Mohawk and Ocean Explorer, both out of Belmar, happy.

Capt. Steve Spinelli on the Skylarker made an overnight offshore trip earlier this week and while the tuna bite was a bit slow, he found a lot of other species biting. The trip put two makos, over 100 mahi, around 30 Golden tilefish, a swordfish and one yellowfin in the boat.

Capt. Pete Sykes on Parker Pete’s Sportfishing, also out of Belmar, didn’t sail in the bad weather over the weekend but said he’s been busy booking his striped bass and tog trips for the coming weeks.

Jeff Nuel at Harry’s Adventure Outfitters in Robbinsville said he’s been hearing of keeper bass at Sandy Hook all being caught on plugs and all at night. The fish have been in the 30-inch range with the biggest coming in at 40 inches.

His customers continue to catch small blues on the beaches from the Hook down to Long Beach Island. The jetties along the beaches, he said, are also holding some nice tog.

Dave Arbeitman at the Reel Seat in Brielle said the tuna fishing so far has been a big disappointment. There have been some yellowfin caught offshore and there are still plenty of mahi around, but it’s nowhere near where it should be for this time of year, he said.

He added that there are guys trying for bluefin at the Mud Hole, but he hasn’t heard much in the way of results yet.

Inshore, the fishing is much better. He said the Point Pleasant Canal is holding bluefish and stripers along with plenty of blackfish.  The Manasquan River has lots of small stripers with the occasional keeper in among them. Swim shads, plugs and worms are all catching those fish.

He’s also had reports of bass on the beach hitting poppers early in the morning and in the evening.

In addition to the blackfish in the Point Pleasant Canal, Catherine over at Brielle Bait and Tackle said anglers are pulling some nice blowfish out of there. It’s clams for the blowfish and green crabs for the blackfish.

She also said clams are working for bass in the surf at night.

Fishing Forecast for Northern New Jersey

Fall means bass on the beaches so now is the time to hit the sand with the surf rod. The forecast looks good for the next couple of days and stripers are hitting plugs and clams in the surf. Any type of popper looks to be the most effective lure at the moment. And there are still false albacore up at Sandy Hook if they are on your bucket list for 2016.